


(That Girl is) Poison

by lady4punk



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adorable, Awesome Natasha Romanov, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Crime Fighting, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, Feels, Humor, Natasha Feels, Natasha Needs a Hug, Natasha Romanov Feels, Protective Natasha Romanov, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-06-05 19:56:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6720769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady4punk/pseuds/lady4punk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miss her, kiss her, love her, wrong move you're dead.</p><p>or</p><p>When you first met Natasha you believed that she was perfect. When you started dating you thought that your relationship was perfect, but there's no such thing as a perfect relationship. Especially when that relationship is to an ex Russian assassin turned Spy turned Super Hero.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cherry Bomb

**Author's Note:**

> First off, thanks for reading! Second... this was actually just supposed to be a collection of drabbles showcasing a bunch of different events and steps in Nat and the reader's relationship, but....*looks at word count* I think I may have gotten a little carried away...
> 
> Also, if any of you happen to be fans of my CapxReader story, I'm sorry! I know I should be updating it and I was really gonna, but then Nat just hijacked my brain and wouldn't give back the wheel until I gave her her own story... With everything I have planned for this story I'm afraid I have no regrets...

It was a normal day. Everyday for as long as you could remember had been a ‘normal day’, so why would this one be any different?  
  
It was while you were stuck in your own head that you finally noticed her. She stood silently to your left maybe two inches taller than you looking the very definition of the words casual, confident, and stunning. She wasn’t wearing anything fancy; just a hoodie and skin tight jeans, both of which were in muted colors. You might have not noticed her at all if it wasn’t for the almost crimson color of her hair. Had you really been that out of it to not see or hear this gorgeous woman just appear next to you? _Ok, stop it!_ You mentally chastised yourself before trying to casually turn around and look like you hadn’t just been gawking at this woman. A moment later your coffee was set on the counter and you were free to make your retreat.  
  
Dropping into a chair you whipped out your phone to check your email, hissing as you absentmindedly scalded yourself with coffee. It was both a relief and an annoyance to see that you had no new messages. On the bright side it meant you could probably call off early for the day, on the bad you worked on commission… with a sigh your eyes casually scanned the room hoping to find some form of distraction. It wasn’t all that surprising when they settled on the alluring red head from before. She sat only a few tables away, eyes trained on a tablet in front of her, casually sipping her coffee without even the slightest hint of a wince. _Of course, someone as perfect as her probably never scalds herself with coffee…_ you thought while absentmindedly running your now burnt tongue over the roof of your mouth.  
  
Your mind wandered as you continued to observe the red headed beauty before you. Just sitting there she gave off a presence of casual superiority. Back straight, legs crossed elegantly, her attire on you would have screamed just rolled out of bed but on her it looked like she’d just walked off a movie set. Watching her made you suddenly aware of your own posture and you quickly sat up straighter.  
  
_Just because she looks perfect doesn’t mean that she is… she’s a human, she has flaws! …I mean… somewhere…_ Staring at someone was already considered rude but staring at someone while purposely looking for faults? …maybe the fact that you couldn’t seem to find any would cancel it out… _Maybe it’s an internal flaw… Like a health condition or she’s crazy! Yep, gotta be it. No one can be perfect externally and internally! She’s probably crazy! …Says the woman sitting here staring at her…_ You involuntarily made a face as you mentally berated yourself. It was at that exact moment that two impossibly sharp green eyes met yours. Your body overheated as you quickly looked away, it had only been for a second but you felt like her eyes could read soul.  
  
Daring a quick glance back up you saw her still watching you; seeming to be picking up on and memorizing every detail about your person. _Yep, time to go be creepy somewhere else! God, how embarrassing… She probably gets looks all the time and here I am just flat out staring at her when all she wanted was some coffee… Great! Now I’m creepy **and** insensitive! _  
Quickly gathering what few items you’d brought with you, you prepared to make your retreat, “This seat taken?”  
  
Looking up you were met with a smile by a man you’d guess to probably be a few years younger than yourself. You blinked before scanning the sea of empty tables surrounding the two of you, realization slowly dawning. _Oh. Oooh boy…_  
  
“Actually, you can have the whole table. I was just about to head out.”  
  
“What? But I just got here,” he exclaimed with a playful grin.  
  
“Riiiight… well, I have places to go to…”  
  
You stood only to have him block your way, “Aw, come on… don’t be like that…”  
  
_Don’t be like what? An adult?! With a life!_ You fought to keep up your polite façade as the man-child before you gave you his best puppy dog eyes, “Look, I’m sure you’re a nice kid-“  
  
“Kid? Baby, let me show you just how much man I am…”  
  
_…ew._  
  
“Oh my God… Have lines like that **ever** worked for you?”  
  
_Please say no. I’m not ready to live in a world where that line has actually gotten someone laid…_  
  
“Sweet thing, that was just the appetizer. How about you and I get out of here and I show you the main course?”  
  
_WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!!_  
  
“Ok, well, this has been… something… but like I said I’ve got places to be so-“  
  
It all would have been fine. The kid was just that; a stupid kid. He’d been obnoxious and corny, but he obviously didn’t mean any harm and had done nothing more than waste a couple minutes of your life. If it had ended there you would have left the café, had a good laugh on the way to your car, and told the story to a few of your friends later on. If it had ended then your entire life would have stayed its normal boring way. But then the brat grabbed your phone.  
  
_Ok, line. CROSSED!_  
  
“What the hell?!”  
  
“Relax, babe, just giving you my number,” he said holding your phone just out of your reach.  
  
_What is this?! Elementary school?!_  
  
“I don’t want your number! I just want my phone!”  
  
“Come on, stop playing hard to get.”  
  
“I’m not playing hard to get! I-,” you paused to take a calming breath, “Look, you’re seriously barking up the wrong tree here. I’m not interested in you. I will never be interested in you. It’s impossible for me to even _be_ interested in you! So give me back my phone.”  
  
For a small moment you thought that calmly explaining in no uncertain terms your disinterest in the man-child would have cleared things up. He would realize that he’d taken the whole ‘women love confidence’ thing too far, apologize, hand you back your phone, and let you be on your way. You should’ve known better.  
  
“So what? You think you’re better than me?! I’m not good enough for you?! Screw you! I just came over here to ask you out, not get bitched at!”  
  
Your face felt like it was on fire; whether from anger or embarrassment you weren’t sure. You’d been trying to keep this whole conversation as quiet and civil as possible, but with that last little outburst you were positive that all eyes in the café were now staring directly at the two of you. Granted that was about four people, but still!  
  
“I don’t have to take this from you! Cause you know what? You’re no prize! I only started talking to you, cause you look like an easy la-“  
  
“Sorry, I’m late,” you both turned at the sound of the smokiest voice you’d ever heard in real life.  
  
Sitting at your recently forgotten table was the red head from before. You and the man-child stared at her with equally stunned expressions.  
  
_How did she-when did she?! … Is that my phone?!!_  
  
Sure enough your phone now lay on your side of the table beside your coffee as if it had never been moved. You and the man-child’s eyes both snapped to his now empty hand before returning to look at the seated woman.  
  
“My plane got delayed and by the time I got to the apartment and headed over here the traffic was just horrendous.”  
  
“Oh,” it took you a minute to even process what she’d said as her eyes seemed to burn straight through you, but when the realization finally hit you immediately fell back into your seat. “Oh! Don’t worry about it I was actually just get ready to call you!”  
  
Your hand quickly went out to swipe your phone and put it back in the safety of your pocket as your mind tried to catch up to your current situation. The mysterious beauty from before was jumping in to save you from the man-child by playing improv! …It was like your life had suddenly turned into a mad libs page…  
  
“How was your flight? Did your conference go well?”  
  
_Conference? Why did I say conference? I don’t know anything about conferences!_  
  
A small smile graced her lips as she leaned in across the table, “About as well as it could. Flight was long and crowded and the meeting was a bunch of stuffy old men pretending that they know how to do my job.”  
  
She spoke in a voice just slightly too low that made you have to lean in as well in order to properly hear her. It took a moment for you to realize that this change in position caused the both of you to casually block out the man-child from the conversation. She carried most of the conversation, talking about things that you wondered whether or not were real. The way she carried herself and spoke was both memorizing and intimidating! She was smooth, but smoky. Not quite sweet or spicy. She was like no one you’d ever met before. And you wanted to absorb everything she did and said… but the man-child was still standing two feet away and to be honest it was making you feel pretty uncomfortable.  
  
After a couple minutes of huffs and scoffs the man-child finally sulked away, your new acquaintance stopped her story the moment the door shut behind him as you turned back to watch with a laugh.  
  
“Oh my God, I can’t thank you enough! That was brilliant!”  
  
She gave you a small shrug and smile as she took a sip of her now probably tepid coffee, “It’s what I do.”  
  
“Saving girls from obnoxious creeps with improv is what you do?”  
  
“Well, usually only every other Thursday, but I decided to make an exception.”  
  
You would forever deny that your head involuntarily ducked down and you bit back a grin like a schoolgirl when she winked at you.  
  
_Pull yourself together!_  
  
“Well, seriously, thanks again. You’re my new hero.”  
  
She gave a casual shrug before getting to her feet, “Any time. See you around.”  
  
Except you wouldn’t. This woman was easily the most captivating person you’d ever met. Her very presence seemed like a magnet pulling every part of you in and yet you knew nothing about her. You watched as she walked away, not once looking back. Not once answering any of the millions of questions about her that you suddenly _needed_ to know. Answers you’d never get because even if you came to this same café every day for the rest of your life the odds of running into her again in this giant overpopulated city were abysmal. You were never going to see this woman again, and it’s the sudden fear of that that kicked you into action.  
  
“Hey, wait!” You were sure your sudden exclamation had actually startled you more than her, but she stopped to look at you all the same, “I… um, I was just… wondering if… maybe you’d like to go get coffee?”  
  
Her eyes looked pointedly at the coffee cups resting in each other of your hands before raising an amused brow. _Smooth…_  
  
“Oh… right, yeah, um…nevermind…”  
  
If your face hadn’t been burning before you knew that it was now. _I can’t believe it’s possible to fail that hard on a cliché…_ You bit your lip and quickly decided to cut your losses. You’d been brave enough to ask her out, that had to count for something!  
  
You hadn’t heard her footsteps but you had heard the click of the pen that was being held by the woman who now stood directly before you. With an expression you couldn’t quite read she silently grabbed your left hand; carefully but quickly writing an assortment of numbers on it before looking back up at you with a smirk, “Call me.”  
  
If you’d been born a cartoon your jaw would’ve been on the floor at that moment. As it were, all you could do was stand frozen in place as you watched the red head that would come to change your life leave the building. Time seemed frozen even after the door clicked shut and you were almost too afraid to breathe.  
  
“Al _right_! Way to **GO**!”  
  
A loud wolf whistle brought you back to reality as a guy behind the counter suddenly cheered you before being silenced with an elbow to the stomach by his co-worker, “Shut up, Brent! Mind your own business!”  
  
“I’m so blogging about this later…”  
  
“Oh my God…”  
  
You swore the blood was never going to leave your cheeks. But as you quickly walked out of the weirdest café experience you’d ever had, you could do nothing to stop the dorky grin and giggles that escaped you.


	2. Call Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God! Thank you all SO much for all the comments and kudos! When I posted the first chapter I wasn't sure if anyone would really be interested, but I'm so glad that you guys proved me wrong. This story is a blast to write and I love hearing what you all think!
> 
> Side note, sorry that this one isn't super long... *glances at Jenny* but next one will definitely be longer! ... probably... ^^;;;

Your phone laid silently on the coffee table in front of you. It had no eyes but you could feel it watching you… Judging you... Mocking you…  
  
It had been three days since your run in with the bombshell that you’d started to mentally call ‘Cherry Bomb’; after the Joan Jett song. It was a real face-palm moment when you realized that you’d forgotten to ask her for her real name. Ever since then you had been actively trying to keep yourself from calling her. You’d found plenty of ways to distract yourself; gushing over everything that had happened that day, thinking of all the things you _should_ have said and done, daydreaming about the future, fearing the future. You tried to stay productive. But now as the third day was coming to an end you began to realize that the longer you put off this call the more likely you were to jeopardize any chance of really getting to know this potentially amazing woman.  
  
Reaching for the phone you found your hand immediately snapping back into your lap.  
  
_What if she only gave me this number out of pity?_  
_What if she doesn’t really have any interest in me?_  
_What if it’s a fake number?!_  
_What if I can’t think of anything to say?_  
_What if I say something awful?_  
_What if I accidentally insult her?_  
_What if she ends up hating me?_  
_What if-No! Stop it! Just pick up the phone and hit call…_  
  
Your body stayed rooted in its spot.  
  
_Any moment now… you’re just gonna reach over to that table… pick up the phone… find her contact… and hit…call…._  
  
Another eternity of sitting perfectly still passed as you sat in a stare off with your judgmental phone.  
  
“Ugh! Come on,” you cried out, finally snapping. “You can do this! You asked her out _in person_! This should technically be easier. If anything goes wrong, just hang up! …Ok… One. Twothreego!”  
  
You quickly swiped up your phone finding Cherry Bomb and hitting call before your nerves had a chance to catch up. You focused on breathing calmly, even as your heart pounded in your ears as you listened to the phone ring. And ring… and… ring…  
  
_Huh… Maybe she won’t pick up… Oh God, what if she doesn’t pick up?! What if I have to leave a message? What do I say?! **Should** I leave a message? Maybe I should just hang up, try again tomorrow… Or take it as a sign, delete her number, and go back to not overthinking every stupid thin-_  
  
“Romanov.”  
  
A cool and professional voice says a single word and your mind shuts off. You come to just short of the time limit allowed for being awkwardly silent on the phone.  
  
“Um, hi, this is Y/N,” you finally manage to blurt out. “Not that you would know who that is because we never exchanged names…”  
  
_Stupid!_  
  
“We, uh, we met the other day at the coffee shop down on 3rd?”  
  
There’s only half a second’s pause before her voice returns sounding as if she’s only mostly talking to herself, “Oh, yeah… You’re the cute one…”  
  
It was as if someone had doused you in napalm and then threw a match on you. You thanked every deity that came to mind that she didn’t wait for you to think up a response to her comment.  
  
“Finally talked yourself into calling me, huh?”  
  
“Wha?! Well-I! …Things have been busy…”  
  
Things had _definitely_ been busy… Just for other people, though, not you.  
  
She gave a small hum of acknowledgment but didn’t press it further, “So, calling to see if I still want to get that coffee with you?”  
  
“Coffee? Dinner? Movie? Whichever sounds the most cliché really.”  
  
An amused huff on the other end of the phone brought a grin to your face and you gave yourself a small mental pat on the back at the accomplishment. The smile instantly disappeared and your body sat straight up, however, at the sound of loud bangs in the background.  
  
“Were those gunshots?!”  
  
“I’m at a firing range.”  
  
You relaxed a bit, “Oh… Is this a bad time?”  
  
“No, it’s fine.”  
  
“Romanov! We need to mov-Are you on the _phone_ right now?!”  
  
A man’s voice could be heard shouting in the background but was almost immediately silenced without the woman saying a single word. You almost laughed at the idea of her silencing him with just a look or the raising of a single finger.  
  
“How about lunch? There’s this place downtown, has the best pizza.”  
  
More gunshots started to ring out in the background. You had half mind to question her about them but then realized; _If she were really in any kind of trouble would she still be talking calmly on the phone with me about pizza?_ “Parmesan’s?”  
  
“Yeah, you’ve been?”  
  
More shouting in the background.  
  
“No, haven’t had the chance, but everyone’s always telling me how great it is.”  
  
“It’s amazing.”  
  
You pull the phone back from your ear as a loud alarm starts blaring in the background.  
  
“Look, I’ve gotta go,” Cherry shouts over the plethora of loud noises. “I’ll text you later with a time and place!”  
  
“Sounds good! Talk to you later!”  
  
“Later!”  
  
As the call ended you found yourself left alone in the dead silence of your apartment, sitting perfectly still before quickly breaking out in dorky giggles. You leapt to your feet, jumping up and down excitedly; allowing yourself to work out all your pent up energy in an embarrassing way that you reserved only for moments when you were sure that no one was watching.  
  
“Yes! She said yes! I have a date! To get pizza! With a beautiful woman! …Who spends her spare time at the gun range… God, I hope I was wrong about the whole her being crazy thing…”


	3. Cherry Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! Sorry! I know I promised a long chapter (and you guys have just been... PHEN-FUCKIN-OMENAL with all the support. Seriously, y'all make me blush!) But there's just been... SOOOO much shit going on that I can barely keep my head on straight... ANYwho, not here to bore you with my personal BLEH, hope you guys enjoy this new chapter. I've already started on the next chapter so hopefully it'll be done soon but no promises cause... well, the ride ain't over yet. ;]

Living in the city never blessed you with the most serene mornings; the occasional shout would never fail to make it into to your apartment and the ever-present sounds of traffic and construction were always in the background of your life. But that stuff had come to no longer bother you, the years of living in the city eventually turning it into little more than white noise. No, miraculously, the commotion of the outside world was not what bothered you into grumpily awaking on a lovely Saturday morning. The cursed, one might even go as far as to say ‘diabolical’, thing that had pried you away from sleep’s loving embrace was something that you’d known since birth. Something that you should have built a tolerance to at this point in your life. That thing was the sun and it was glaring its way through your eyelids.  
  
With what you were sure was a very unladylike grunt you tried to bury yourself deeper into your blankets. Mentally cursing the sun and your past self for not remembering to close your blinds the previous night, you had little choice but to acknowledge that it was too late and you were already wide awake. With a sigh you threw the blankets off of your head and stared up at the ceiling as you reminisced about the previous night.  
  
After your phone call with Cherry Bomb it had been nearly impossible to go to sleep. You were just too excited! Your stomach had been filled with butterflies and despite your best efforts you hadn’t been able to distract yourself with anything for long before zoning out and eventually succumbing to more excited fits of giggling. Your phone had not been out of reach for even a second and you were guilty of checking it obsessively. When you had finally calmed down enough to properly distract yourself it had already been late and you’d found yourself streaming addictive T.V. shows until some time after three.  
  
With another groan you rolled yourself over and reached for your phone, wincing as the harsh light met your eyes. _Twenty after ten… that’s not **too** bad…_  
  
Your heart nearly stopped as you noticed that you’d received a new text.  
  
**‘2640 Lincoln Ave. 12pm.’**  
  
You honestly weren’t sure what you’d been expecting. It was a time and place, exactly like she’d promised. There really wasn’t much else needed to be said, but even knowing that somehow the message left you feeling kind of… cold.  
  
_Well, it says that she sent it at 5:38 in the morning… She was probably just really tired… Wait, was she at the gun range that whole time?_  
  
“Wait, does she want to meet _today_ at twelve?! That’s in less than two hours!”  
  
Jumping out of bed you quickly sent her a reply questioning if she meant today. Not a minute passed before you got your response:  
  
**‘Yes.’**  
  
_Shitshitshitshitshit!_ “ **’Just woke up-‘** No… **‘Would you mind TOO much if-‘** No! … **’Running a bit late, mind meeting up at 12:30 instead?’** Send!”  
  
**‘Ok.’**  
  
You let out a breath that you didn’t know you’d been holding as you and your phone both dropped limply on the bed. _God, how can one person get me so stupidly worked up?_  
  
With another sigh you pulled yourself away from the bed and went to brush your teeth. _Obviously because you like her._  
  
Hopping in the shower you worked up a quick lather in your hair before trying to comb through the knots and tangles. _So stupid. I don’t even know anything about her!_  
  
You closed your eyes as you rinsed out all the suds. _And yet you clearly like what you’ve seen so far._  
  
With an agitated huff you began scrubbing your body, freezing as you reached your legs. “Oh my God! When was the last time I shaved these things?!”  
  
Twenty minutes later found you standing in front of your dresser with yet another dilemma. _What am I going to wear?! I’m so unprepared for dating!_  
  
It took longer and more thought than you cared to admit but you’d finally pieced together a cute but casual outfit that you thought complimented your body as well as anything you currently owned was going to. Looking yourself over in the mirror you couldn’t help but think that you cleaned up quite nicely and after messing with your hair one last time you made your way out the front door and to your car.  
  
_Shit!_  
  
Quickly running back into your apartment you made a beeline for your bathroom. With a couple nervous glances at the clock you threw on your almost forgotten deodorant before fixing your hair- _Last time, swear!_ -and running back out the door.


	4. Hello, I Love You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's part one of your first date with Natasha!
> 
> Sorry, it took so long. I just moved states and am trying to find a job and settle in. xP  
> Part two is in the making so it should be up fairly soon. Love ya's!

_God, this is awkward…_  
  
It had been a long, cold, hard while since you’d been on a first date and despite the time and ‘personal growing’ you suddenly remembered why you hated them so much. You sat across the table from the most beautiful woman you’d ever met. A woman who had shown herself to be intelligent, quick witted, alluring, and even kind of funny, all in under ten minutes on your first meeting. A woman who had, figuratively, saved your skin! And you couldn’t think of a single thing to break the horrible, increasingly tense silence that surrounded you both… Yeah, first dates sucked!  
  
“So, what do you do?”  
  
You mentally thanked every deity, that you had the mental capacity to remember under stress, as she broke the silence.  
  
“I’m a web designer; nothing fancy. I just design things on the web… Websites. I design websites…. For… people… who need functioning websites… for comis-what do you do?”  
  
She took a sip of her soda with a small shrug, “Intel mostly.”  
  
“Um, what does that…”  
  
“I work for a large corporation and when they need to know something about a competing company or even one of their own, they send me over to take a look.”  
  
“Wow… that sounds so cool! So, you’re like a business spy?”  
  
Natasha gave an amused yet non-committal shrug, “More or less.”  
  
That’s right her name was _Natasha_! Because of course it was! Someone as gorgeous as her had to have a beautiful name as well! Something you’d almost floundered out when she’d first told you it.  
  
“So, how’d you get into that?”  
  
“It’s a long, boring story. Short version is I was in a job that I hated and a friend referred me to his boss.”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
_…Was somehow expecting a cooler story than that…_  
  
Before you could think of a more eloquent response than ‘oh’, Natasha once again came to the rescue, “So, how’d you get into web design?”  
  
“Well, when I was younger our parents got us our first computer and I was almost instantly obsessed with the internet. I mean, I know _everyone_ is now, but it was like instant crack for me… I was also a bit of a dork when it came to the games, movies, and books I liked and would use the internet to just learn _everything_ about them in like one sitting. So that led me to jumping fan site to fan site until I decided to start making my own. Eventually I started making free sites for friends and then more complex ones for commission, and when it came time to leave home I thought ‘why not just keep doing this?’”  
  
“And you enjoy it?”  
  
“Oh, yeah! I mean, obviously I have my crap days and some of the clients can be a huge pain in the butt, but I honestly can’t see myself doing something else and staying as happy.”  
  
Another silence started looming in, feeling more relaxed but still causing you panic, before Natasha’s lips curved into a devilish smirk.  
  
“So, what were these fan websites for?”  
  
_Oh God, no…_  
  
Your face felt hot, “Oh well, I had a few for a of lot different media… books, movies, games…”  
  
“And they just showed random trivia?”  
  
“Um… they usually focused more on specific individual characters… But yeah, there was a lot of character trivia, bios, and everyone with an account would add their own fan-art and theories…”  
  
Natasha’s grin only grew, “What characters did you have?”  
  
“Oh God… No, we don’t need to talk about this. It was a long time ago and super embarrassing now!”  
  
“Now you _have_ to tell me.”  
  
You bit your lip chancing a look up at Natasha as she patiently and happily waited.  
  
“Ok, ok! But no judgment!”  
  
“Completely off record.”  
  
You took in a deep breath and played with your straw to avoid meeting Natasha’s eye, “The sites I designed that got the most attention and I spent the most time on making were for Hermione Granger, Princess Zelda, and Willow Rosenburg.”  
  
Natasha snorted out a laugh, somehow still managing to across feminine and elegant.  
  
“Hey! I said no judgment!”  
  
“I’m not, I’m not!”  
  
You gave her a skeptical look that just made her smirk, “Well, maybe a little…”  
  
You took an almost too large bite of your pizza to distract from the embarrassed pout your face was trying to pull against your will.  
  
“But not in a bad way... I think it’s kind of cute.”  
  
“So, do you have any hobbies?” You asked trying and failing to cover up how flustered you were over hearing her call you ‘cute’ for a second time.  
  
“Not really, my job keeps me pretty busy. How about you, still making those websites?”  
  
“No!” Your eyes met her green defensively before melting sheepishly, “Occasionally…”  
  
_Geez, how does she do that?!_  
  
“I mean, I mostly just check up on the old ones I made. Usually tweak a few things if I have the time. Some people still seem to enjoy them so I figure, why not?”  
  
“So what else do you do in your spare time?”  
  
“Nothing interesting really,” you admitted, playing with your drink, “I go out to the movies a lot with my friends.”  
  
_God, I sound boring! Is my life really this boring?! Switch the subject back to her!_  
  
“So, um, you go to the gun range a lot?”  
  
_…That has to be the weirdest thing I’ve ever asked on a first date…_  
  
Natasha gave a nod, taking a bite of her pizza, “Yep, gotta keep up those skills.”  
  
“Ha, right!”  
  
_Wait, what?_  
  
“You ever been?”  
  
“Uh, no. Me and guns don’t really mix… unless you count videogames. ”  
  
“I’ve never played any so I wouldn’t know.”  
  
_What?_  
  
“What?”  
  
Natasha continued to eat her pizza watching your reaction with a kind of curios confusion.  
  
“Have you played Super Marios Bros. at least?”  
  
“Nope.”  
  
“Pac-man?”  
  
“Nope.”  
  
“Tetris?!”  
  
Natasha gave you an amused look and seemed to actually try to think back, “That’s the one with all the blocks, right?”  
  
“Yes!”  
  
“Nope.”  
  
“How in the world have you never played Tetris?!”  
  
“I think I saw a coworker playing it on his phone once, but I didn’t get the point.”  
  
“It has no point it’s just addictive and enraging… How have you never played a single videogame? No apps? What about as a kid?”  
  
Natasha paused for a split second, her amusement dying to a more neutral expression as she seemed to carefully pick her words, “I was raised in a very strict house. Videogames weren’t really allowed.”  
  
“Oh, that… that sucks.”  
  
_Seriously? ‘That sucks’ is the best response you can come up with?!_  
  
You bit your lip trying to come up with a way to salvage the conversation. You wondered if talking about her childhood had upset her. She didn’t _seem_ that upset, but the way her mood had so abruptly changed made you wonder if she was just really good at hiding it. Natasha opened her mouth to say something, probably coming to your rescue yet again with a new topic, but you beat her to the punch as an idea suddenly burst into your mind.  
  
“Oh! There’s an arcade down the road from here! We should go!”  
  
Natasha raised a brow, “To an arcade?”  
  
“Yeah, it’ll be fun! I mean if you want to,” you looked at her with a joking amount of seriousness, “We can avenge your childhood.”  
  
With an amused snort Natasha gave a shrug, “Sure, why not? Do you wanna take your pizza to go?”  
  
“No need,” you said quickly stuffing the remainder of your pizza into your mouth. With almost too much enthusiasm for a grown woman going to play video games in the middle of the day you grabbed the red head’s arm and practically dragged her out of the restaurant, “This is gonna be so much fun!”


End file.
